This Week’s Share
- Basil
- Carrots
- Corn
- Celery
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant, Orient Express
- Lettuce
- Onions, Red Wing
- Potatoes, Yukon Gold
- Summer Squash
Share Notes
- Basil: Enjoy your second large distribution of basil. Try making a batch of pesto and filling up an ice cube tray with the pesto. Place the ice cube tray in the freezer, and once pesto cubes have frozen completely dump them out of the tray into a freezer storage container/bag. Take out basil cubes out to thaw as you need them. One cube is enough for one to two servings. Pesto can be frozen for up to 6 months with cheese added, or up to year with no cheese added.
- Corn: Say hello to the summer’s first sweet corn! Due to the cool spring/early summer corn is a few weeks behind this season. We have several healthy plantings out in our fields, and you can look forward to seeing corn in your shares over the next few weeks. Try grilling the ears up whole, or just eat the corn fresh straight from the cob, no cooking needed.
Recipes
Celery Recipe
German Potato Salad
Adapted from Serving up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman
2 pounds potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
4 ounces bacon, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 to 2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons white wine or red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
4 celery stalks with leaves, diced and leaved chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Combine potatoes with 6 cups salted water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Reserve ¼-cup of the cooking liquid and drain. Transfer potatoes to a large mixing bowl and keep warm.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the diced bacon over medium heat until brown and crisp, about 4 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and transfer to the bowl with the potatoes. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of bacon grease.
Add the onion and garlic to the skillet and cook until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the reserved cooking liquid, oil, vinegar, and sugar. Bring to a boil. Pour the mixture over the potatoes and toss to coat. Add the celery and chopped celery leaves and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Serve immediately.
Corn Recipe
Spaghetti with Clams and Corn
From Eating Well in Season by Jessie Price
6 ounces whole-wheat spaghetti
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups diced onions (sweet onions if you have them from last week or red from this week)
1 cup fresh corn kernals
6 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2/3 cup dry white wine (such as Pinto Grigio)
1 pound fresh minced clams or chopped clam strips
½ cup chopped fresh basil
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Cook pasta in boiling water until just tender, about 8 minutes, or according to package directions. Reserve ¼ cup of the cooking liquid; drain the pasta. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and salt, and stir to coat, and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft and just beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to medium-high, stir in corn, garlic, thyme and pepper, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Sprinkle flour over vegetables; stir to coat. Stir in wine and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat. When pasta is ready, return the pan to medium-high heat. Stir in the reserved cooking liquid and clams (and any juices). Simmer, stirring often, until the clams are cooked through, about 1 minute. Stir in the pasta, basil and parsley. Serve with lemon wedges. Makes 4 servings.
Eggplant Recipes
Grilled Smoky Eggplant Salad
From Eating Well in Season by Jessie Price
2 small eggplants
¾ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
Olive oil cooking spray
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 small tomato, diced
1 small clove of garlic, chopped
1½ teaspoons paprika (preferably smoked)
3 cups mixed salad greens or chopped lettuce
2 ounces Manchego cheese, cut into thin curls with a vegetable peeler
Preheat grill to medium. Cut stripes in each eggplant’s peel by running a vegetable peeler down the length of it and repeating at about 1-inch intervals. Slice the eggplants into rounds 1/3 to ½ inch thick. Lay them on a baking sheet an sprinkle lightly with ½ teaspoon salt. Let stand for about 5 minutes.
Blot the eggplant slices with paper towels and lightly coat both sides with olive oil cooking spray. Grill the eggplant, flipping halfway through, until soft and browned on both sides, 9 to 11 minutes.
Puree the oil, vinegar, tomato, garlic, paprika and the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt in a blender until well combined. Toss the salad greens with half of the vinaigrette in a medium bowl. Arrange the eggplant slices on 6 salad plates. Drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette. Place salad greens over and between eggplant slices, then scatter the cheese curls on top of each salad. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 6 servings.
Potato Recipe
German Potato Salad
(see above in Celery Recipes)
Summer Squash Recipe
Lemony Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza
Provided by CSA Member Jessica Roberts
Note: Homemade pizza is great for using what’s in season, so don’t just limit yourself to summer squash. Try thin slices of eggplant, potato, onion, tomato or even fresh corn sliced off the cob. The real take-away from this recipe is the tangy and delicious lemony goat cheese. One batch of dough makes one small pizza, which with a big green salad, makes an nice summer meal for two.
1 batch Simple Pizza Dough (recipe below) or a store-bought pizza dough (Grand Central, Hotlips Pizza, Trader Joe’s, New Season) that will yield one small (approx. 11 to 12 inches across), thin pizza
1 lemon
4 ounces goat cheese, at room temperature
Few leaves of fresh basil, cut into thin slivers
2 small summer squash (zucchini and/or patty pan), sliced as thinly as you can pull off with a knife or your mandoline (I went for 1/8-inch thick with mine)
Drizzle of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Roll your pizza dough into a thin 12-inch circle and lay it on a tray or stone that has been dusted lightly with cornmeal.
In a small bowl, stir together the goat cheese with the juice of half your lemon. Season it with salt and freshly ground pepper, and spread it over your pizza dough. Scatter fresh basil slivers over the cheese.
Arrange your zucchini coins in concentric circles over the goat cheese spread, overlapping them slightly. You can alternate their colors, if you’re feeling fancy. Squeeze the juice of the second half of your lemon on top of you zucchini, then drizzle with olive oil and finish with more salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes (your baking time will vary, so please watch carefully), or until the edges of your pizza are golden brown and the zucchini looks roasted and a little curled up at the edges. Serve with a green salad if desired.
Really Simple Pizza Dough
From http://smittenkitchen.com
Note: Makes enough for one small, thin crust pizza. Double it if you like your pizza thick and bready or you want to make two pizzas.
1 1/2 cups flour (can replace up to half of this with whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water (may need up to 1 or 2 tablespoons more)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Stir dry ingredients, including yeast, in a large bowl. Add water and olive oil, stirring mixture into as close to a ball as you can. Dump all clumps and floury bits onto a lightly floured surface and knead everything into a homogeneous ball.
If you are finding this step difficult, one of the best tricks I picked up from my bread-making class is to simply pause. Leave the dough in a lightly-floured spot, put the empty bowl upside-down on top of it and come back in 2 to 5 minutes, at which point you will find the dough a lot more lovable.
Knead it for just a minute or two. Lightly oil the bowl (a spritz of cooking spray perfectly does the trick) where you had mixed it – one-bowl recipe! – dump the dough in, turn it over so all sides are coated, cover it in plastic wrap and leave it undisturbed for an hour or two, until it has doubled in size.
Dump it back on the floured counter (yup, I leave mine messy), and gently press the air out of the dough with the palm of your hands. Fold the piece into an approximate ball shape, and let it sit under that plastic wrap for 20 more minutes.
Sprinkle a pizza stone or baking sheet with cornmeal and preheat your oven to its top temperature. Roll out the pizza, toss on whatever topping and seasonings you like. (I always err on the side of skimpy with toppings so to not weight down the dough too much, or if I have multiple toppings, to keep them very thinly sliced.)
Bake it for about 10 minutes until it’s lightly blistered and impossible to resist.